16 AWP Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 December 13–19, 2019
NOW OPEN AT
HELLO PANDA FESTIVAL
hellopandafest.com
C Bao Asian Buns Comes
to Hello Panda Festival
For a long, long time the only pork buns I
knew were the char siu bao found at Chinese
bakeries in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The first time
that I encountered a fluffy hinged bao bun was
at a Peking duck restaurant. Until David Chang
came on the scene in the 1990s offering his take
on Taiwanese gua bao, or pork belly sandwiches
I didn’t think of the bao outside the context of
Peking duck. Unlike the tasty but rather one note
char siu bao found in Chinese bakeries these little
marvels were packed with thick slabs of wobbly
slow cooked pork belly, pickled mustard greens,
and sweetened peanuts creating a symphony of
flavor. At about the same time roast duck buns,
notably the famed “duck a buck” as prepared at
Corner 28 in downtown Flushing’s bustling Chinatown,
started to become a popular street food.
On a cold Tuesday afternoon I stopped by C
Bao’s Times Square outpost and tried both the
duck and pork belly buns. I’d had them once
before and thought they were pretty good, but
frankly I don’t like to wait on lines so hadn’t tasted
either in years. Both remain among the best bao
I’ve ever had in New York City. Each of the fluffy
buns was slightly larger than my fist. The pillowy
dough of the gua bao yielded to tender slabs of
pork belly whose richness was perfectly offset by
the pickled greens and peanuts. The duck version
was filled with hefty slices, which somehow
retained their crisp skin even in the cold Times
Square air. I’m willing to bet that the Korean beef,
chicken teriyaki, and tofu bao are just as good,
but I stuck to the classics.
“C is for Chinese and C is also the initial of my
husband’s first name,” says Annie Ye who started
C Bao Asian Buns with her husband Chun Chung
Ip in 2013. The couple, who hail from Wenzhou,
China, and now live in Fresh Meadows, developed
the recipes for the bao themselves. Thanks
to their delicious buns, C Bao quickly became a
hit at some of New York City’s most popular food
markets, including Smorgasburg, Queens Night
Market, and Flushing Night Out.
“We thought bao would be a healthy meal for
customers,” says Yen adding the top seller after almost
10 years in business remains the hefty Peking
duck bun. “They love our food, especially the duck,”
Yen says with a laugh of her four children.
Since they’re open until 11 p.m. you could
check out C Bao’s sandwiches in the dazzling
lights of Times Square, but why not enjoy these
Chinese treats, by the lights of the handcrafted
lanterns at North America’s largest Chinese lantern
festival. I know I’ll be there!
BY JOE DISTEFANO
As the Culinary King of Queens, I’m so
very fortunate to live in the most diverse
and delicious destination in all of New
York City. Really I’m not royalty though,
I’m an ambassador, and a hungry one
at that. Today, we return to China to
talk about C Bao Asian Buns a Queensbased
business that specializes in one
of my favorite sandwiches, Chinese
bao. They’re just one of 60 food vendors
curated by the World’s Fare at the Hello
Panda Festival, which kicked off at
Citi Field last weekend and runs until
January 26th.
1479 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
(516) 213-8769
Also available at the Hello Panda Festival
at Citi Field
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